Sure Start

There are three Sure Start centres in Castle Point: Little Tewkes, Canvey Community, and Little Lions.

Key findings from research shows that:

• The vast majority of parents surveyed found using a Sure Start Children’s Centre was a very positive experience. Levels of satisfaction were very high with 92 per cent of all users saying they were satisfied (68% were very satisfied).
• Parents who use children’s centres access a wide range of activities and are very satisfied with the specific services they have used including childcare and nursery education, health and family and parenting services.
• Children’s centres are used by all groups within a community, with no groups excluded from or failing to access them.

There are sixty Sure Start Children’s Centres in Essex, and these will be receiving a total of £17,658,976 revenue funding in 2009/10.

The Conservative Party are committed to cutting “£200 million per year…from Children’s Centres” to spend elsewhere. This would mean cutting 19.5% from Sure Start budgets – the equivalent of one in five Children’s Centres being forced to close. There are currently 2,919 Children’s Centres across England, so a £200 million cut could see 569 closed under the Conservative Party’s plans.